On the evening of March 26, 2026, a lecture titled "Trump's 'Brain Trust': The Rise of America's New Right Intellectuals", jointly hosted by the School of International Studies (SIS), Peking University (PKU), the Institute of International and Strategic Studies (IISS), PKU, and the China office of Princeton University Press, was held simultaneously at the North Pavilion of PKU and online.

The event featured Laura K. Field, Senior Associate at the Illiberalism Studies Program at George Washington University and Nonresident Fellow at the Brookings Institution, as the keynote speaker; Associate Professor Wang Jianxun at the School of Law, China University of Political Science and Law, and Professor Xie Tao, Dean of the School of International Relations, Beijing Foreign Studies University, as discussants; Li Lingxi, Managing Director of the China office of Princeton University Press (PUP), as a participant; and Yu Tiejun, President of IISS, PKU and Professor at SIS, PKU, as the chair.

Dr. Field first introduced the main arguments of her new book, Furious Minds: The Making of the MAGA New Right, including her definition of the MAGA New Right and its four ideological pillars, namely, economic nationalism, social conservatism, anti-immigration, and an "America First" foreign policy, as well as the four factions that make up the MAGA New Right camp, together with their representative figures and characteristics.

The two discussants and the chair then offered their assessments of Dr. Field's book from a range of angles: including its methodology and observational perspective; the rise of Trump and the role of his brain trust; the origins of New Right thought; the ideological connections between the old and new right; the future direction of conservatism; comparisons between right-wing and left-wing political movements; the distinctiveness of MAGA within the conservative movement; and the relationship between MAGA ideology and the Trump administration's recent foreign policy. Finally, the keynote speaker engaged in an in-depth exchange with the audience on a number of questions, such as the divergence between Trump's recent foreign policy practice and the MAGA "America First" ideology; the Catholic-conservative intellectual roots of the MAGA New Right; the interaction between the New Right and young politicians; the political motivations of Straussian scholars; and the internal cohesion of the New Right in a post-Trump era.

The book Furious Minds: The Making of the MAGA New Right was published by Princeton University Press in 2025 and named one of the Financial Times' Best Books of the Year. Building on nearly a decade of firsthand observation within conservative academic circles, the author chronicles the rise of the "New Right" — a network of scholars, public intellectuals, and opinion leaders who have provided powerful ideological support for "Trumpism." This "New Right" stands out for being young, misogynistic, highly strategic, and remarkably successful. They advocate economic nationalism, tight border controls, isolationism, and reactionary social values. The New Right is waging a "culture war" against modern liberal pluralism: they seek to recapture and wield state power in order to remake institutions and the established order — from university campuses to the international stage along illiberal lines.

This seminar was the sixth session in the "Frontiers of International Relations Theory" academic lecture series, jointly organized by SIS, PKU; IISS, PKU; and the China office of PUP.

Editor: Li Fangqi  Photo by: Zheng Huaizhou